28 November 2024
Espanola school will be demolished
Rosalind Russell, staff March 11, 2022
Rainbow Community Non-Profit Housing has lost its battle to keep the AB Ellis Public School building to convert to housing due to lack of funding. Rainbow District School Board has announced the building will be demolished shortly to make way for a parking lot. Photo by Rosalind Russell
An Espanola school will be demolished to make way for a parking lot.
According to the release, the Rainbow District School Board has received Ministry of Education funding of $2.7 million to demolish the former A B Ellis Public School on Park Street.
The demolishment is expected to begin within the next couple of months and be finished by fall, effectively eliminating the ongoing operating costs associated with the school, which has been vacant since last year and converting the space into a parking lot.
The Rainbow Community Non-Profit Housing group had asked for consideration in saving the building to have it repurposed as apartments for seniors and lower-income residents but with no funding to buy the property, the plan fell through.
The Manitoulin-Sudbury District Services Board has expressed an interest in acquiring a portion of land, so the board would consider a severance in the future.
The original building is over 100 years old housing English Public students since 1919.